New Clinton ad: Competence vs. foolishness

I have long thought the question of a politician’s “likeability” or “relateability” to be overblown factors in determining how they’ll do with the electorate. For the record, I don’t want to have a beer with any of them, unless they happen to be someone I already know and like.

Maybe voters make choices based on things as silly as how cool they think a candidate is, or how much fun they’d be to hang out with, or even how nice they are. I know a lot of people who score high on all those indicators, and I wouldn’t want any of them in charge of launch codes or complex public policy issues.

I’ve already seen a couple ads that attempt to soften up Hillary Clinton’s image. They talk about how much she cares about kids or how hard she has fought for healthcare. I’m sure that’s all true, but I also don’t think that’s why people will vote for her.

They will vote for her, if they vote for her, because they think she can do the job. They will think she has the experience, and, yes, the judgment to make reasonable decisions.

Persuadable voters, that all-important class of deciders, will make their decisions, I would guess, on that question, i.e., who do you trust to have their head screwed on more or less straight enough to navigate a complex world?

So, go ahead Clinton campaign. Make as many touchy-feely ads as you like, but make more like this, the sort that remind people she is much more likely to know what she’s doing than the clown running against her. That shouldn’t be hard to do.